Groundhog Day and Weekend Plans

Happy Groudhog Day! The fuck is Groudhog Day? I'm glad you asked!

If you're in the Sacramento area and looking for something to do this weekend, you should know that this Saturday is Museum Day! That's right, museums all around town will be open to the general public for free. It's kind of awesome.

If you're unsure about which museum to visit, the Discovery Museum Science and Space Center will not only be open for free, they will also be hosting some of the local food trucks in their parking lot. Great food + science = awesome.

You know it does.

You can also check out the latest installment of the Sac Veg Fest on Saturday in the Artisan Building. I hear there's been some flack about Sac Veg Fest including a vendor that also serves meat. While I agree that the point should be to encourage and promote vegetarian and vegan businesses in the Sacramento area, I'd just be happy if they have vendors that serve food instead of just have a booth. Is that really so much to ask?

And now that I've encouraged you to go eat a bunch of stuff, maybe you don't want to read this story about hamburger:

“It's typically cheap meat given to dogs, but after it's processed it can be given to humans.”

Mmm.... Who's hungry?

Crankypants Commute

Really? Really?!?

Why is it that every fucking other ramp closure ever ends early enough to not affect the morning commute, but the closure of the ramp I use every fucking morning of my fucking life has to extend well past the time I need it every day?

Until June fucking 30th?

The fuck is up with that?

Friday Favorites

There are a few blogs that do the Friday Favorites thing. In an effort to focus on more on the awesome and less on the Not Awesome (ala Arwen's Seek Joy movement), I thought I would do a Friday Favorites post.

1. I downloaded the Pandora app and used it to make a channel based on Jefferson Airplane's White Rabbit. It was just as awesome as it sounds.

2. Taking SweetPea's grandfather out for his 83rd birthday.

3. Taking an obscenely early lunch break to catch a yoga class taught by a fire dancer. I've done it before, and I may have to make it a regular thing. It was definitely fun.

4. The rowing machine at the gym. I have no idea why, but I really enjoy doing this and it feels super easy. Maybe I need to join a rowing team. Or not.

5. Spending some time reflecting on the things I learned last weekend. I'm still not entirely sure what to do with it or how to get where I want to go, but I've got another weekend of learning ahead of me.

6. Finally getting some good storms through the valley.

7. Moving into a place where I am actively reconnecting with joy.

8. Planning!

9. Scheduling an extra day into my weekend just so I can get a lie in day!

What's on your joy list this week?

Twenty Seconds of Courage

One of the hardest things for me to do is to keep my mind from wandering. I'm not good at it, and it really doesn't matter the situation. I even have a tendency to "skim" conversations because my mind will wander and I'll tune out.

I spent last weekend listening.

And every time my brain would grab a hunk of "meat" and try to run off, I'd have to drag it back because I was missing stuff.

There was a lot of great information. More than that, though. It was enlightening and challenging. It was an honor to be able to be part of it and I've still got one weekend to go.

The thing is, while everything we covered made perfect sense to me, while I see this path so clearly and I know the beast that lives in my brain will not give up until I get to its destination, I am so afraid of crossing the threshold from understanding to action.

I have built up so many barriers to protect myself from things I didn't want to deal with and following this path requires tearing them down.

I have to allow myself to feel.

I have to allow myself to be open and receptive and to sit with emotions even when it sucks.

I have to learn how to be open and raw.

I have to learn how to be ok with that and not try to hide it all the time.

I have to learn how to accept that sometimes I'm going to pick up other people's bullshit and that it's ok to sit with that, too, but then I have to let it go because it's not mine.

I have to do this because I believe this is the me I was always meant to be.

I have to learn how to live outside of my comfort zone.

One of the concepts that was discussed was that all it takes to begin amazing things is 20 seconds of courage. I think I may need to learn to live in that moment.

My Lunch Date

News, Views and Lose(AThon)

Much like blogging, I've had a hard time getting back on the fitness and healthy eating track.

I started getting back on track with workouts, but then my shins started hurting again on runs. Randomly. Some runs were still great and sometimes it was so bad it felt like I had wooden legs from the knees down. Then I got sick, and while I did still work out, I was significantly limited by my lack of oxygen intake ability.

I'm trying to drag my lazy ass back out of the lazy hole. I've had some success. And some not so much.

And then some guys I know on twitter started this LoseAThon Challenge, so I signed up. Maybe I'll fail miserably, but whatever. I'm hoping, at least, it provides some motivation to get my ass back on track.

I'm tired of fighting with the scale. I'm tired of giving back progress because it really pisses me off.

So there it is. LoseAThon. We'll see.

In totally unrelated news, tomorrow I start on a journey that will change my life.

That might be a little melodramatic.

Maybe it's not.

I haven't talked about this a lot and I'm not going to. For several reasons. Not the least of which is that I'm of the superstitious sort. Or maybe it's just because I don't want to hear anyone ask me what the hell I think I'm doing. Or who I'm trying to kid.

Because I just don't fucking know.

What I do know is that I've been thinking about this for awhile. An opportunity arose that actually could be made to fit within what I have to give and I landed on that shit.

The fact that I could swing it and the fact that it terrifies me really make me feel like I'm headed in the right direction.

I guess we'll have to see.

Until then, enjoy this little dog. I'd love to do something like this with Bixby. Except that I don't ride and he don't mind.